pear to have been received by the public, together with the solicitation of some of my friends, has induced me to adopt my present

course.

Having endeavored to present the reader with the manners and customs of the old frontier-men, together with some interesting events which will aid the historian of some future day, in delineating the character of the early settlers as well as the early history of the western country, I now take my leave of the subject.

JOHN MCDONALD,

Of Poplar Ridge, Ross County, Ohio.

A SKETCH OF THE LIFE

OF

GENERAL NATHANIEL MASSIE.

CHAPTER I.

THE life of every man, of any distinction, is intimately connected with many of the events that compose the general history of his country. It is by his connection. with those events he is made to display his character, and derive from his companions whatever reputation he may merit. Nor can we, in writing the biography of such a man, strictly confine ourselves to the immediate occurrences of his own time; but we must be permitted to look back a little, and form a connected chain of events, in order to make plain what would otherwise appear obscure, and give a just importance to events which would not otherwise seem to merit attention. These are the reasons I beg leave to urge as an apology for the following digression.

A short time previous to, and about the time the Revolutionary struggle commenced, the attention of the citizens of Virginia was drawn to the Kentucky territory; which was, at that time, and for many years afterwards, the western portion of that state. This attention was produced by some hardy hunters of the mountains, who accustomed to danger, and always seeking some new and exciting field of enterprize, passed far beyond the pale of civilization, and pushed their discoveries in the rich bosom of Kentucky. Returning to the settle

7

ments, the fame of the exuberant richness of the soil was spread throughout the land. They told, that they had passed beyond the wide chain of mountains, that composed, at that time, the middle portion of Virginia, and had reached the valley beyond, and found a beautifully rolling country, covered by a dense forest of large trees, the ground beneath them carpeted by the luxuriant growth of waving cane, and that the soil was rich beyond any they ever beheld. Besides all this, what gave the greatest joy to the hunter, was the fact, that game of different kinds abounded in profusion; so much so, that the Indian tribes, from different portions of the West, had from time immemorial contested, in long and bloody battles, the occupancy of the soil, during the hunting season; and, on this account, the country was known among the Indians by the name of Kentucky, "the dark and bloody ground."

Such glowing descriptions, in spite of the many and embarrassing difficulties under which Virginia, at that time, labored, soon excited the activity of many of her citizens. That state owned an immense landed territory, and had always been extensively liberal in its disposal. The legislature foresaw, that the only mode to accomplish the early settlement of their vast unappropriated lands, was to be effected by the liberal encouragement to settlers; and, by an act for that purpose, every one, who made a settlement by clearing a spot of ground, erecting a cabin, and raising a crop of corn, on such lands, was entitled to four hundred acres of land, including the settlement, and the preemption right to one thousand acres adjoining thereto. The settlement claims were bounties given to settlers by the state; the preemption claims were rights given by the state to the settlers, to purchase before others and appropriate one thousand acres adjoining their settlements. These claims to land, in Kentucky, were of high standing and much

respected, and generally prevailed beyond other claims, when difficulties did not arise about the location of them. A large portion of the state was quickly settled by this liberal encouragement extended to settlers; yet a very short time was allowed to them. The unbounded rage for the acquisition of western lands seized the specula

tors, and the greater portion of the country was soon more than doubly appropriated by the military and treasury warrants, issued in almost as large quantities by Virginia, as continental paper.

The wretched "every one for himself" system of locating lands, at that time, gave rise to more than thirty years continued litigation of the land claims. So much, indeed, were they entangled, that in their adjustment, more brilliancy of talent was displayed, and more abstruse learning brought forward and applied, than it could well be conceived possible such a subject could originate. Happily, however, for the country, the rules of our laws, when applied by great and discriminating minds, are rules of reason, and when directed steadily to some great end connected with human transactions, will finally overcome all difficulties, and accomplish the desired object. In Kentucky, a system of land law was soon erected, abstruse indeed, but founded in justice, as it soon relieved their entangled and much litigated titles. But to return.

For several years after the Kentucky territory was explored, many difficulties were encountered in making permanent settlements. The settlers were placed, as it were, in a gauntlet, continually exposed to the inroads of the Indians from the northwest of the Ohio, and also from the tribes that bordered the southern part of Kentucky. These different tribes of Indians meeting yearly, during their hunting and war season, found the country possessed by the whites, who were looked upon by them as a common enemy, who, they justly suspected,

had come to rob them of their possessions. Animated by the wrong which was about to be done them, and also by the thought that they were contending for the country, which had been the glorious field of the warlike exploits of their chiefs and warriors, they fought with that bravery which borders on despair. For these reasons, their warfare with the whites was of an exterminating character on both sides, and the scenes of bloodshed that ensued were most terrific. Another great difficulty, under which the settlers labored, was the distance they were removed from the settlements. Supplies of absolute necessaries were not easily transported so great a distance, as no roads were then known, and the only mode of transportation was the pack-horse, and the only guide the compass and the experience of the woodman. Unfortunately, at that time, no remedy could be applied to remove these difficulties, as Virginia with the other colonies were, at that time, engaged in the arduous struggle for Independence, and no protection could, as heretofore, be afforded to the settlers by troops levied for the frontier service.

Under these and many other difficulties, the pioneers of an early day labored. Is it not surprising that the settlement of the country should have continued to progress? Every returning messenger, too, from the new to the old country, had scenes of horror to relate of the stealthy incursions of the savages, their deadly hatred to the whites, and their indiscriminate and inhuman butcheries of them. The thoughts of such things did not discourage the pioneers. On the contrary, the tide of emigration, year after year, began to swell in larger and more regular streams, and the inhabitants soon commenced a system of offensive, as well as defensive, operations. Hitherto, the hunters and surveyors had adopted, from necessity, the roving habits, the cunning, and hardihood of the savages, and had carried on with